About the Author

David Maraniss is an associate editor at The Washington Post and a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes for journalism and was a finalist three other times. Among his bestselling books are biographies of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Roberto Clemente, and Vince Lombardi, and a trilogy about the 1960s--Rome 1960; Once in a Great City (winner of the RFK Book Prize); and They Marched into Sunlight (winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Prize and Pulitzer Finalist in History).

Reviews

"A masterly biography. . . . A finely crafted, multifaceted portrait of a life driven by obsession."--Tim Long "The Miami Herald"

"A monumental biography."--Michael Bauman "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"

"A superb book, one of the best on football that we have."--Michael Oriard "The Philadelphia Inquirer"

"An astonishingly good book. . . . A triumph, a classic American biography."--Robert W. Creamer "The Washington Post Book World"

"Both the reach of the research and the grasp of Lombardi's character are impressive. It is a wonderful work."--Lester Munson "Chicago Tribune"

"Forges a near-perfect synthesis of fine writing and fascinating material. May be the best sports biography ever published."--Ron Fimrite "Sports Illustrated"

"It is simply a superb biography."--Bill Brashler "Chicago Sun-Times"

In the history of American sports, no coach has been mythologized as much as the Green Bay Packers' Vince Lombardi (who has been immortalized with, among other tributes, a rest station on the New Jersey Turnpike). Yet this fine biography from a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Washington Post is a blast of cool air among the usually overheated roster of sports biographies. From Lombardi's formative years as a player and coach at Fordham University through assistantships with West Point and the Giants and, finally, to his tenure as head coach of the Packers, Maraniss presents a portrait of a complicated human being who was a great teacher but a mediocre listener, an effective psychologist despite being rife with flaws. Though he often got hurt as a college athlete, Lombardi, as a coach, scorned players who couldn't withstand injury. His relationship with his wife and children was less than ideal. But Maraniss doesn't succumb to any reductive assessments of Lombardi as "tragic" or "heroic." As legend suggests, Lombardi was indeed a great motivator, but his success also derived from a cerebral approach to the game. The book's true punch comes from its myriad subplots: a hero from one small town (early 20th-century Brooklyn) revitalizing another in the Upper Midwest, or professional football and Lombardi coming into their own at roughly the same time. Maraniss spends far too much time on people and events whose influence on Lombardi isn't made apparent, and he relies too much on other sportswriters' descriptions of games. Yet like its subject, the book, for all its flaws, is intricate, ambitious and satisfying. First serial to Vanity Fair. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

"A masterly biography. . . . A finely crafted, multifaceted portrait of a life driven by obsession."--Tim Long "The Miami Herald"
"A monumental biography."--Michael Bauman "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"
"A superb book, one of the best on football that we have."--Michael Oriard "The Philadelphia Inquirer"
"An astonishingly good book. . . . A triumph, a classic American biography."--Robert W. Creamer "The Washington Post Book World"
"Both the reach of the research and the grasp of Lombardi's character are impressive. It is a wonderful work."--Lester Munson "Chicago Tribune"
"Forges a near-perfect synthesis of fine writing and fascinating material. May be the best sports biography ever published."--Ron Fimrite "Sports Illustrated"
"It is simply a superb biography."--Bill Brashler "Chicago Sun-Times"